Norm erosion is the weakening of the unwritten conventions that govern political conduct — peaceful transfer of power, judicial independence, deference to inspectors general, restraint from prosecuting political rivals. These conventions are not enforceable in court. They survive only because office-holders treat them as binding.
Levitsky and Ziblatt name two foundational norms in How Democracies Die: mutual toleration (treating rival parties as legitimate, not enemies) and institutional forbearance (declining to use legal powers to their maximum partisan extent). When a president fires an inspector general for political reasons, refuses to disclose taxes, pardons co-conspirators, or refuses to concede an election, the action may be legal — but it sets a precedent the next officeholder can extend.
Erosion compounds. Each unprecedented action becomes the new precedent. Restoring norms is harder than dismantling them because the original conventions were never written down. Courts cannot enforce them and Congress can only act through statute, which requires majorities that may not exist.
Most of what restrains executive power in the U.S. is convention, not law. When norms erode, the constitutional system that looks intact on paper stops working in practice — and there is often no court ruling or statute that can put the norm back the way it was.
People often assume if it''s legal, it''s fine. Democratic stability depends on officials choosing not to do many legal things. When that self-restraint goes, the system shifts even though no law changed.
Most of what restrains executive power in the U.S. is convention, not law. When norms erode, the constitutional system that looks intact on paper stops working in practice — and there is often no court ruling or statute that can put the norm back the way it was.
People often assume if it''s legal, it''s fine. Democratic stability depends on officials choosing not to do many legal things. When that self-restraint goes, the system shifts even though no law changed.